AvPlan EFB vs Planningcharts
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AvPlan EFB
This app provides comprehensive flight planning and electronic flight bag capabilities for pilots. It offers advanced features like terrain warning, airspace status, and graphical replanning to enhance situational awareness and streamline flight preparation and execution.
- VFR & IFR Flight Planning
- Terrain Warning & Alerting
- Graphical Flight Replanning
- Weight and Balance
- Geo-referenced Airport Diagrams
- GPS Moving Map
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Get flying faster with AvPlan EFB - the premier lifetime Electronic Flight Bag that grows with you. Continuing to lead the market with unparalleled innovation and functionality, AvPlan features multiple firsts with terrain warning, touch to display restricted airspace status, automatic IFR airway planning and geo-referenced airport taxi & instrument approach diagrams to arm you with superior situational awareness. Envisioned, developed and rigorously tested over a two year period by pilots for pilots, AvPlan EFB integrates everything you need to prepare, plan and execute your flight - whether it be in a recreational aircraft, corporate jet or something in between. Your AvPlan EFB comes packed with the following features: • Comprehensive VFR & IFR Flight Planning • Complete official FAA airport/waypoint database • All necessary documentation • Advanced aircraft flight model setup • Automatic TOC, TOD, PNR and optimum altitude calculation • Full DUATS integration (WX, NOTAMS, flight plan submission) • All US VFR & IFR aeronautical charts (with pan, zoom and rotation) • Touch and drag (rubber band) graphical flight replanning/diversion • Weight and balance (with loadsheet and passenger manifest) • Graphical WX overlays on any chart (WX Radar, Lightning, METAR, SIGMET) • GPS moving map with display data labels • Touch-to-display TFR status • Terrain map overlay and in-flight terrain alerting • Geo-referenced airport diagrams (auto displays aircraft position on landing) • Geo-referenced instrument approach plates which support route editing and more • FAA Documentation (including full text search and bookmark functions) • Aircraft pilot operating handbook import • Send a briefing pack to PDF file, email & Apple AirPrint compatible printers • Extensive integration with external flight planning systems/panel GPS/FMS’s (Including Garmin G1000) • Ability to sync flight plans between Apple IOS devices • Easy to access support from a team of committed professionals • And much more we can’t list here The Perfect Co-pilot Intuitive, reliable and responsive, AvPlan’s inbuilt context awareness engine ensures it’s always up to date and ready to provide you with the right information at the right time, whether you’re preparing for your flight or already airborne. Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. AvPlan EFB – Plan faster, fly sooner
Planningcharts
This app provides professional long-haul pilots with essential aviation charts and real-time airport data for enhanced situational awareness and safety. It allows for offline chart downloads and access to critical information like NOTAMs, WX/TAF, and airport-specific details.
- Offline chart downloads
- Real-time NOTAMs and WX/TAF
- Airport categorization and approach data
- NAT crossing procedures and ATC information
- Swipe navigation between charts
- Automatic news downloads
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Planningcharts ia a well-known tool used by thousands of professional long-haul pilots worldwide - New level of situational awareness and therefore dramatically increased safety - latest NOTAMs and WX / TAF to display real-time availability of all airports - EASA Threat and Error management built into every airport symbol All the Pilot's KnowHow you need is on one single chart, such as: - NAT crossing procedures - Common ATC frequencies - Time frame for ATC initial calls - Data Link (FANS/CPDLC) codes - Time frame for Data Link (FANS/CPDLC) log-in - IFBP (IATA Inflight Broadcasting Procedure) Reminder - Unique developed airport symbols, containing: - Airport categorisation - Approach directions and capability at a single glance - List of displayed airports, containing: - RFF (rescue and firefighting) category - Field elevation - Variation - Available runways with related approach and LDA (landing distance available) - Made by professional pilots for professional pilots. Key features: • Select your chart on our new interactive 3D Globe • Continues update of all data and charts for offline inflight use. • Automatic news download, when starting the App. • Feedback directly from chart view to our support. Without a subscription, you only have limited access to the app's functions. You can only view some charts and cannot save them as favorites. Our subscriptions give you access to all charts worldwide. There are different packages for a monthly, half-yearly and yearly subscription. Each package gives you full access to the product for as long as it lasts. Each subscription can be canceled at any time. The subscriptions follow the standard EULA from Apple https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Planningcharts at 5.0 against AvPlan EFB's 4.6. Planningcharts also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). AvPlan EFB's advantage is review sentiment (85% vs 63%) and ratings volume (94 vs 3). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. AvPlan EFB sells 11 one-off in-app purchases and Planningcharts sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $16.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Planningcharts holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: AvPlan EFB has 94 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 85% of AvPlan EFB's written reviews are positive against 63% of Planningcharts's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
AvPlan EFB ships an update every 3 weeks, Planningcharts every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | AvPlan EFB | Planningcharts |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (94 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 85.3% of reviews — better | 62.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 94 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 144 MB | 81 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +4 |
| Developer | BJA Consulting Pty Ltd | Apollodor Aviation GmbH |
Customer experience
AvPlan EFB
Planningcharts
Bugs and requests
AvPlan EFB
Reported bugs
9 issues- App crashes during flight planning
- Wind data fails to download
- Registration process causes app to close
- Performance data not recognized during planning
- Georeference errors on NZ IFR charts (NZKK RNAV, NZNS STARs)
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- Inconsistent syncing with external devices
- Occasional freezing during data interruptions
- UI elements layering on top of each other
- Continued crashes despite updates
Requested features
12 requests- Fixed range rings around airports
- Better STARS and APPROACH plate access like JeppFD
- Larger heads-up display options for better readability
- Ability to sort flight plans in list view
- Dark mode option
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- Better bookmark organization for AIP documents
- Flight log to logbook conversion with endorsements
- Dropbox synchronization for document libraries
- Canadian mapping support
- Vector-based boundary layers for UAV operations
- Weather overlay restoration
- Webcam integration for airport conditions
Planningcharts
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
AvPlan EFB
- AvPlan VFR - 1 Month Subscription$12.00
- AvPlan EFB USA IFR Upgrade 1 Year Subscription$49.99
- AvPlan USA VFR 1 Year Subscription$59.99
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- AvPlan EFB Velocity Weather Upgrade 1 Year Subscription$59.99
- AvPlan NZ IFR Upgrade - 1 year subscription$79.00
- AvPlan Worldwide 1 Year Subscription$89.99
- AvPlan VFR - 1 Year Subscription$129.00
- AvPlan NZ VFR 1 year subscription$149.00
- AvPlan EFB VFR Plus$149.99
- AvPlan EFB Premium Bundle - United States$169.99
- AvPlan EFB Premium Bundle - Australia$249.00
Planningcharts
- Monthly Membership3 Days trial$16.491 Month
- Half Yearly Membership3 Days trial$80.996 Months
- Yearly Membership3 Days trial$129.991 Year









